We have recently visited the Vallecito Trail in the Weminuche Wilderness from the trailhead near Kite Lake, across Hunchback Pass, down to where Sunlight Creek comes in, then up the Sunlight drainage. New and/or revised information has been posted for the Kite Lake/Hunchback trailhead and the associated approach segments including field-verified GPS waypoints for key campsites and the stream crossings to reach the upper basin of Sunlight Creek and Sunlight Lake.

Peak Summary

Jagged Mountain, besides being a top 100 ranked summit and thereby drawing attention for that, is one of the finest alpine ascents Colorado has to offer. It is also one of the few 13ers that has a fifth class rating. Isolated among the highest and most rugged summits of the Weminuche Wilderness, Jagged requires a multi-day backpack no matter how it is approached. Our suggested route brings you in from the Beartown/Kite Lake trailhead north of Hunchback Pass. 4WD with good clearance is required. For those with some technical climbing experience and able to handle some exposure, Jagged can be summited without bringing a lot of equipment or even rope, but many will likely want to have some protection.

WARNING: This trail head approach REQUIRES 4WD with good ground clearance. The drive as described below from Silverton may take up to 2.5 hours.

From the Town of Silverton, and where the main road splits at the NE end of town, drive 4.2 miles NE up along the Animas River on blue-signed County Road 2 to Howardsville. Turn right onto FR589 up Cunningham Gulch and stay right at the turn for the "Old Mine Tour" (4.4 miles) but do take the left fork toward Stony Pass (FR737) at 5.9miles. Once on the Stony Pass Road, expect 4W conditions. The road climbs steeply to the pass. Abundant wildflowers as you approach the pass may delay you. Once across the pass, the road becomes FR520 and eventually leads to Rio Grande Reservoir, but you will not drive that far. The road eventually descends down the valley to a low water crossing of Pole Creek. There are several primitive campsites on both sides of the Pole Creek crossing. Watch out for the steep embankment climb out on the east side if the road is wet from rains. You could easily slip off the edge. After the crossing, continue south for under a mile to another fork where you'll turn right (west). Another long, low water crossing is found here across the Rio Grande River. This crossing is usually more shallow than the Pole Creek, but the closer you are to runoff season, the more difficult these crossings will be.

It is also possible to come into this area from either Creede or Lake City over Slumgullion and Spring Pass to Rio Grande Reservoir. From state highway 149 either about 20.5 miles from Creede or 32 miles from Lake City, turn west onto FS520 and drive all the way to the reservoir on the well-signed, graded dirt road. Passenger cars can make it all the way to the "Lost Trail Campground" at the far west end of the reservoir. Beyond that point, FR520 continues west and crosses some rugged sections before connecting with the other section of FR520 coming down from Stony Pass and the low-water crossing of the Rio Grande. We have never driven in all the way on this section and from those we know who have, they have complained about one particularly difficult stretch.

From the Rio Grande crossing, continue up what is now, the Beartown Road for a slow 4 miles (mainly because of potholes) to the former location of Beartown. (There's really nothing left to see there, but just before the road crosses Bear Creek, beyond the old townsite, there is some good camping. The road goes all the way to Kite Lake at about 12,100 ft., but the Hunchback Pass trailhead is about 1/2 mile below the lake. There's a trail sign there and some very limited parking is available. Road Notes as of 2018: About half the distance toward Beartown, the road crosses an unnamed creek and at that spot, there are some difficult mud/potholes that have really been dug out. Longer bed vehicles may have some difficulty getting through. Take it slow. Closer to Beartown, the road passes through a fence line. At that point, the road conditions will begin to deteriorate and become more rocky as it begins to gain some elevation.

As the road begins climbing more steeply toward Kite Lake and the Hunchback trailhead, after crossing Bear Creek, it becomes quite a bit more rocky in that stretch as well. For a long section, the road is deeply entrenched in the middle because of runoff and the trench tends to fill with loose rocks. If you have driven in here to do the Ute Ridge group of summits, camp in the vicinity of where the road crosses Bear Creek just past the old Beartown site. See coordinates below. From that creek crossing, it's not quite .3 mile to the trailhead for Ute Ridge, which is a jeep track that turns off to the left and drops down to cross another lesser fork of Bear Creek. Park somewhere along this track if heading for Ute Ridge. On the Caltopo map, this trail is called the "Bear Town Trail" and designated FR869. On trails Illustrated Map #140, it does not appear to have a designation. Coordinates for this road & trailhead are: N 37° 42' 54.53" W 107° 30' 35.00". You can find a good camp spot here as well. You can also find some additional camp spots within a few hundred yards of the Hunchback Pass trailhead. One of those spots goes off to the south to an old mining area.

Camping

You can find some very limited camping spots in the immediate vicinity of the Hunchback trailhead. There's one particularly good spot back down the road a fairly short distance on the south side. There's also some good camping back toward the Beartown site. See coordinates provided.

Campsite Locations

Our route up Jagged Mountain
uses a backpack approach, which we've broken into multiple stages, to access the surrounding area.
Please refer to
the approach stages within this sequence by using the provided toggles for info on how to approach this climb.

This "approach" is part of a sequence of approaches that utilize the Vallecito Trail beginning near Kite Lake and above the "Beartown" site. The trailhead is located at: N37° 42' 44.57" W 107° 31' 04.97". Use the "Beartown/Kite Lake/Hunchback trailhead information for instructions on how to drive to the TH.

The trailhead is actually within the Rio Grande National Forest. The TH number is #813 on both the San Juan and older Rio Grande National Forest maps and is a part of the "Continental Divide Trail" at this location and segment. Once the trail crosses Hunchback Pass, it crosses over into San Juan National Forest and becomes #529, continuing south all the way to Vallecito Reservoir. If using Trails Illustrated #140, they identify this as the Continental Divide Trail and use the #813. Walk south from the TH and follow the easy gradient through open terrain with some willows to Hunchback Pass. The trail first sweeps SE, then makes a gradual turn SW, then west to the open, tundra-covered pass with about 900 feet of gain over just under a mile. Coordinates for the pass are: N 37° 42' 16.62" W 107° 31' 12.37". Hunchback Mountain is west along the divide and can be easily climbed by those interested in bagging all the 13ers. You can drop your pack, stroll to the summit and return in under an hour.

From Hunchback Pass, continue south heading straight down an unnamed fork of Vallecito Creek (or could perhaps be considered an unnamed fork of Nebo Creek.) The trail cuts trough plenty of willows in this section and stays on the west side of the drainage until a little before the trees. Because of the numerous willows, plan on getting pants & boots drenched if it has rained recently. Also, as a general point, the Vallecito Trail is utilized regularly by pack horse groups so you can expect to see and experience some of the typical trail damage done by horses. The trail then turns to the SE and comes to an intersection. A newer trail (#813) that does not show on the 1964 USGS map heads east up Nebo Creek, crosses the Continental Divide and goes to West Ute Lake. That is the continuation of the Continental Divide Trail. The Vallecito Trail continues south and west from this intersection. Near the trail intersection, there is a very large and good campsite on a prominent knoll above Nebo Creek on the NW side. The campsite makes a good base camp for 13ers off the CD trail including Mt. Nebo, UN13,110, UN13,230, and UN13,169, all of which can be done in a single day from the campsite. See "Camping info" for more details.

Camping

The Nebo Campsite sits near the intersection of the Vallecito Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. This camp site is not to be confused with another located about a mile farther down the trail where Nebo Creek is actually crossed. The elevation is appx. 11,400 ft. Coordinates are below. These coordinates have been field checked. The campsite is right off the main trail. Because of the beetle kill damage to the old growth trees here, the original camp area has seen some ground vegetation moving back in. There is still one, good, main tent site with fire ring as of 2018, a smaller but usable tent site just off to the NW from the fire ring and 50 yards south, there is a potential camp site located on the grassy knoll. Water may be obtained from Nebo Creek which will lie east of and downhill from the campsite.

Campsite Locations

This "approach" is part of a sequence of approaches that utilize the Vallecito Trail beginning near Kite Lake and above the "Beartown" site. The trailhead is located at: N37° 42' 44.57" W 107° 31' 04.97". Use the "Beartown/Kite Lake/Hunchback trailhead information for instructions on how to drive to the TH.

From the Nebo Creek campsite and the trail junction of the Continental Divide Trail #813 and the Vallecito Trail #529, head south, then SW down the Vallecito Trail. The trail swings to the west through forest, staying above Nebo Creek and then makes an abrupt turn back to the north to cross the unnamed fork of Vallecito Creek that originates near Hunchback Pass. Watch carefully for this minor crossing. Then, the trail continues down and generally west to SW. Along this next stretch there is one small campsite we've noticed on the south side of the trail that has some slope and could accommodate one tent. This is what we would call a "do-in-a-pinch" type of site. Continue down trail to the WSW to a switchback that will drop you to Nebo Creek (which by this point has been joined by the aforementioned unnamed fork and now carries a lot more water). Just below this switchback, there is a not-too-noticeable trail that heads off to the SW which we believe to be an alternate route into Stormy Gulch. When you arrive at the crossing of Nebo Creek, we have usually found this crossing to be a little difficult and somewhat intimidating. The water is swift and nearby the stream heads over the beginning of a waterfall. Sometimes there are logs you can walk across and other times, there's little help. You may have to wade. You can also explore upstream where you may find a better crossing place with rocks that allow hopping over the stream. In our July, 2018 visit, the water was so low, crossing anywhere was easy. Before crossing, if you follow the stream up, there are some good campsites with as many as four possible tent sites. Beyond the last tent site there is a picturesque waterfall.

After crossing Nebo Creek, continue downhill, through a series of switchbacks and at 1.25 miles from the Nebo campsite, you should come to an open meadow on the right (west) side of the trail and see a secondary trail heading over to a crossing of Vallecito Creek, below where Trinity Creek comes in. This meadow area is often used as a camp spot by various groups, though it tends to be a little lumpy. From this location climbers can reach The Guardian, Mt. Silex, Storm King, and Peaks Seven, Eight and Nine as day hikes/climbs by heading up Stormy Gulch. But if you're willing to lug your pack back uphill, read about other higher elevation campsites under the "approach" for those peaks. If hiking back up to the Nebo Creek camp or back over Hunchback Pass to the trailhead, this section from Trinity Creek back to Nebo Creek is the steepest part of the return hike gaining about 1,000 feet in elevation. It is also possible to hike all the way up Trinity Creek and cross the ridge that separates the Trinity Basin from the Vestal Basin and access the Vestal Creek summits.

Camping

An easily identifiable trail turns west off the main Vallecito Trail and leads over to where you can cross Vallecito Creek, downstream from where Trinity Creek comes in. This trail leads across an open meadow that is frequently used as a camp location. See approximate coordinates below. The trail that leads west across the meadow can be rather faint. The best campsite will be a few yards north of that trail (see field checked coordinates), and there's another campsite in some younger trees 50 yards south of the trail.

Campsite Locations

The 1.75 mile walk from the Trinity Creek camp to the crossing of Rock Creek is an easy, quick jaunt down the trail that will take under an hour with only about 400 feet in elevation loss. Though the trail starts out in forest, it crosses plenty of open valley terrain before re-entering forest for some broad switchbacks that make the final drop to the Rock Creek crossing. As of 2018, because of all the beetle-kill damage, the undergrowth is becoming quite lush in places and at a few points, the trail becomes a little obscured. Some of the delphinium along here grows as much as 5 feet tall! We have never found any useful logs at Rock Creek to cross on here, so be prepared to wade, and at the crossing point, the stream widens out so the wade is long, but usually not challenging. If heading up to Rock Lake, you will not need to make the crossing. The Rock Lake Trail stays on the north side of Rock Creek. Vallecito Creek from the Trinity Creek intersection and heading downstream begins to offer attractive pools and stream fishing opportunities.

The Rock Creek trail #655 provides access to Rock Lake, a seemingly popular destination for horse-pack groups. From a possible base camp location near Rock Lake, the following 13ers can be accessed, most of which are found on the Columbine Pass and Emerald Lake quads: UN13,302, Irving Peak, Peters Peak, UN13,222, UN13,220, Mount Oso, UN13,417, UN13,310, and UN13,340.

Camping

Over the years, the Rock Creek crossing has never seen the development of any really nice campsites. The flattest with the fewest rocks is right off the trail, on the north side of Rock Creek, where the Rock Creek/Lake trail turns off. See coordinates below.

Campsite Locations

The Vallecito Trail from the Rock Creek crossing to the location where you can wade across Vallecito Creek to access the Sunlight Creek drainage is an easy two mile descent with a loss of 500 feet in elevation. The trail passes through a mix of forest and open meadow areas. Aspen trees begin to join the conifers. Beetle-kill has destroyed most of the old growth conifers. By now, the elevation loss from Hunchback Pass has left the hiker entrenched in this deep valley with mountain peaks soaring impressively above on either side of the valley. The trail will exit the forest into an open meadow just before arriving at the Sunlight Crossing location. You'll likely see more than one fainter trail heading off to the right (west) toward Vallecito Creek, but as of July, 2018, a small cairn marked the turnoff to head for both campsites and the crossing. Coordinates for this turnoff are: N 37° 37' 48.5" W 107° 32' 17.2". There are several, excellent campsites located near the creek along the east bank and this could make a good base camp location for day excursions. As mentioned on the Trinity Creek to Rock Creek approach, stream fishing opportunities abound all along the Vallecito to this location.

To reach Sunlight Creek from here: The field-checked crossing coordinates provided will put you well south of where Sunlight Creek actually comes into the Vallecito. Below that intersection, the Vallecito splits briefly and then below where the two branches come back together, the stream widens out a bit and offers a crossing possibility. Trying to wade across before the spring/summer runoff has subsided by mid-July can be tricky if not dangerous. A long ice axe in one hand and a solid, long stick in the other will prove very useful. Loosen the straps/buckles on your pack in case you fall in so you can quickly free yourself from the pack. On at least one of our trips across, we found an old rope and strung it up across the Vallecito at the crossing which provided a solid hand line. IF you check closely on Google Earth, someone has posted a photo at what we believe to be the actual crossing location we have used. From the east side of the Vallecito, you can look across and spot a trail over on the west bank. The times we've crossed here, water has ranged from knee to upper thigh deep. The current is challenging. Coordinates are: N 37° 37' 52.1" W 107° 32' 21.7". If you are on the main Vallecito trail (which is farther east away from Vallecito Ck. than the USGS map would have you believe), watch for the small cairn and follow the faint trail generally west bypassing some taller willows and crossing a nice open meadow. The trail will fade some, but look for it becoming defined again just before it drops down an embankment and crosses a small, marshy, muddy area. The now more defined trail will lead directly to the Vallecito crossing point.

Just before that trail drops off the embankment, there is a good camping area located in some mixed trees (aspen & conifer) north of the trail and on a low rise. There is also another good campsite after you drop down the embankment. A fainter trail will head off north and in about 100 yards will go up onto another low, open rise. Make a hard turn to the left and walk to another well-established camp location surrounded by a mix of aspen and conifers.

Camping

As mentioned above, there are numerous campsites along the east bank of Vallecito Creek in the vicinity of the crossing. Use our coordinates as a general reference point and go find your preferred spot. The area shows evidence of being popular with horse-packing groups.

The trick to finding the Sunlight Lake trail is to find a way to ford Vallecito Creek. Be sure and read the Rock Creek to Sunlight Crossing Approach for more detail. We have succeeded twice at a location about 150 - 200 yards down from where on the USGS map, Vallecito Creek has split and then come back together and then levels and spreads out a little. Try these coordinates which were field verified in 2018. N 37° 37' 52.1" W 107° 32' 21.7". There will be a good trail on the other side if you're in the right location. Wade on across in water that may reach mid to upper thighs and can be fairly swift, earlier in the season. Once across, leave your boots off or on loosely and head upstream on the trail and cross to the NORTH side of Sunlight Creek. You'll probably have to wade this one as well. It's best to just go ahead and cross right where the trail meets Sunlight Creek. We've never found a better location by looking upstream on three separate trips.

Once across Sunlight Creek, the trail begins the arduous journey up the Sunlight drainage. The incredible beauty and remoteness of the upper Sunlight Basin will compensate for the difficulty in getting there, or at least keep telling yourself that as you struggle up. The 2,500 feet in elevation gain will be one of the most difficult you'll encounter in the central Weminuche. WARNING: Do not be misled by either G&M or Rosenbrough's book (if you still have them), that the trail is on the south side of Sunlight Creek. Both are wrong. After crossing to the north side of Sunlight Creek, the trail heads up an embankment, swings to the left, climbs a little more and comes to a more level location in the forest. Watch for the Sunlight trail heading off to your left, marked by a couple of cairns. The trail you're on will continue north heading toward Leviathan Creek. Make sure you do not miss the Sunlight trail and go too far north toward Leviathan Creek. This critical turn will be less than 5 minutes from crossing Sunlight Creek.

As you head up the trail, you will cross numerous fallen logs. Then there is a brief section where it follows closely alongside the creek. We last visited this trail the summer immediately following substantial winter avalanches in 2005. Getting through this lower section was an incredible pain. From our 2018 visit up this trail the unmaintained Sunlight trail has been somewhat re-established through here. Most of the tree-crossing problem has been eliminated. New growth has come back in. The trail is still difficult to follow. Someone has marked it at many locations with small cairns but it’s still easy to lose. If you do lose it, be aware that the trail does pull away from the creek to the north some at two locations in order to gain elevation at steeper sections of the valley. Once out of the smaller aspen re-growth, the trial moves more into conifers and becomes easier to follow. The trail then crosses to the south side of Sunlight Creek at about 10,800 ft. There use to be a nice log here to get you across, but that log has been swept to one side. You will likely have to wade again. This is a critical crossing to make if you want to stay on the trail. It occurs where the valley constricts and leaves little choice as to where to go. The trail takes you right to this crossing. The following coordinates for this crossing were field-verified in 2018. (N 37° 37' 54.5" W 107° 33' 41.5")

The trail then stays on the south side of the creek for about the next 3/4 mile. Immediately after crossing to the south side of the creek, the trail wades through lush, tall undergrowth, heading west. It then climbs up onto a bench well above the creek, levels out and eventually comes back close to creek level. After that, where a major tributary comes in from the south, the trail almost gets lost in willows and undergrowth and crosses multiple stream channels. If you lose it here, head generally to the west, to a more open but vegetated slope that climbs steeply. You should be able to re-find the trail heading up through here. It is fairly well-defined and switchbacks up the steep, open, but heavily vegetated slope and swinging away from the creek to the south and west some. Then the trail heads NW to round a side of the mountain, passing by some tall dead trees and drops you back to the creek heading more westerly and crossing to the north side again around a willowy area where things have again flattened out and the stream meanders some. The trail may be difficult to spot in the willows. Just beyond this crossing, you'll be in what were the last good trees before the trail ascends to Sunlight Lake. (They’re all dead now.) There's two small campsites here. They use to be larger but lush vegetation has taken over much of what use to accommodate up to four tents easily. If you're not entirely beat up yet, continue another .6 mile on to the lake where some more open sites exist. The trail up to the lake does not follow the main watercourse, but rather, a secondary drainage. If you made it this far, congratulations! On the way on up to the lake, just as the trail begins to make a turn to the SW and cross a small stream, there is a trail that will take you into the basin north of Jagged Mtn. Field-verified coordinates for where this trail turns off are: N 37° 38' 19.4" W 107° 34' 44.8". You will likely have to hike uphill a little to locate this trail. It cannot be seen from below on the Sunlight Lake trail.

It should be noted that the trail route drawn on this map is an approximation at best and should not be taken too literally except at a few critical junctures that are noted in the approach description. GPS plotting was not used.

Camping

The last good campsite that has the shelter of trees is at 11,550 ft. and the coordinates provided below (however most all the older growth trees are dead now). This is an excellent camp location with close access to water. It makes a good base camp for a number of 13ers in the surrounding area. You may also continue to Sunlight Lake where several sites exist but at the lake you'll be more exposed to the weather since there are only a few low trees.

Because of the long backpack access and difficult ascent up Sunlight Creek to Sunlight Lake, this would be a climb only for mature & strong teenagers and older with peakbagging and backpacking experience. Jagged Mountain is a technical climb, therefore only those with technical rock climbing experience should attempt.

Route Description

Year Climbed: 1994

Mileage and elevation gain provided are measured from our suggested campsite at the last good area of trees along Sunlight Creek at 11,550 ft. As we said before in the overview summary, Jagged Mtn. is one of Colorado's finest ascents, offering plenty of rock climbing & scrambling along with route finding problems amid absolutely gorgeous and impressive scenery. Probably the most popular approach to Jagged has been to ride the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, get off at Needleton, then hike to Noname Creek along the Animas River and then hike up Noname Creek and establish a base camp up along the east fork of Noname above 11,000 ft. From there, you can complete Jagged as a day climb by heading up the NE fork of Noname, and ascending a pass just north of Jagged and head for Jagged's north face where the technical work begins. Much of our approach and route description for Peak Five will get you to that pass. Follow this link to learn more. Peak Five.

For those who don't want to pay for the train ride, our suggested approach comes in from Hunchback Pass, heads down Vallecito Creek, then goes up Sunlight Creek to a base camp at 11,550 feet.

This route description begins at the campsite located at the last trees at 11,550 ft. on the Sunlight Creek trail. From that campsite, head WNW on the trail to Sunlight Lake for less than a half mile. Where the trail takes a decided turn to the SW, watch for a fainter trail that turns off to the north around these coordinates: N37° 38' 19.31" W 107° 34' 44.56". Follow this trail through flowering vegetation and willows up and over to the stream that drains the basin between Jagged and Leviathan. Head up the watercourse. When it splits, you can take the left fork which leads first through a short boulder field and then up tundra/embedded rock slopes and more rocks & boulders into the basin below Jagged and the small, crescent-shaped lake at 12,700 ft. Alternately, where the drainage splits, you can also go up right to a saddle and turn left to follow a tundra and rock outcrop ridge over to the same crescent lake. This route is perhaps steeper initially, but has less boulder talus to deal with. For stronger groups, you can backpack up to this location and find good camping around the unnamed, crescent lake or 50 - 100 yards SW of the lake near the foot of Jagged's north face. We found a nice area of low, cushy grass and small gravel there that could accommodate a few tents.

Now for the real business. For the record, Carrie & Tim climbed Jagged unassisted by anyone else and did so with a minimum of equipment. We had come prepared with a 100 foot section of climbing rope, some "Swami" seat harnesses made out of 1" webbing, a few biners and "chocks" (does anybody remember them?) and a shorter 50 foot piece of 1/4" nylon rope for handling packs. We never made use of the climbing rope, put our harnesses on but never really used them and never placed any protection. We are not and have never considered ourselves "rock jocks" and had at the time, only minimal abilities at lead climbing, probably not able to do more than a 5.6 rating. We say all this to help you make your own decision as to how much equipment you need to bring for this climb. A helmet is obviously a good idea, Beyond that, it's always better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. We generally find the burden of a weeks worth of supplies in a backpack sufficient weight without adding equipment you may never need or use. So make your own decision and if you get in trouble, don't hold us accountable.

At the time we climbed Jagged, our sources for route description included Robert Rosebrough's book, "The San Juan Mountains;" "The Guide to the Colorado Mountains" and Garratt & Martin's book, "Colorado's High Thirteeners." All three assumed a start from the Noname Creek area and coming into the north face of Jagged from the pass just north of the peak that allows access between the Sunlight and Noname drainages. Today, there's the additional help of Dave Cooper's book, "Colorado Scrambles" or "Colorado's Thirteeners" by Gerry and Jennifer Roach. The Roach book probably offers the greatest amount of detail, if that's what you're looking for. And of course, there are numerous internet sources and accounts on places like 14ers.com and SummitPost. Thus, we will not attempt here to duplicate the route description efforts of Mr. Cooper or Gerry & Jennifer, but will only provide a summary and a few more impressions of the climb.

The only disappointment in climbing Jagged was that even in 1994, we found the north face route to be well marked by cairns and to have a usually visible foot path. The only problem we had with following the "route" was near the summit when you traverse onto the south face of the peak. More about that in a minute. This diminished the challenge of route finding. We approached the climb from a campsite at the foot of the north face instead of coming in from the Noname/Sunlight Pass because our approach was up the Sunlight Creek drainage. As all sources point out, the key to climbing Jagged is identifying the correct summit. It may prove a time saver to first obtain a good view of the peak and the route on the north face before heading off on the climb. Once you identify the correct summit, then finding the right couloir falls into place. From our campsite at the foot of the north face, we started out in a westward direction, contouring uphill over tundra, solid rock and then broken rocks and boulders, until we passed below the bottom of the critical couloir. From there, you scramble at times up along the west side of that couloir, resisting any temptation to turn elsewhere until you reach the more vertical cliffs that form the main summit block area. The angle of ascent increases as you move upward. Much of the summer season, the couloir will have snow in it, and this helps identify it. In getting started, while heading for this couloir, we encountered one brief 4th class scramble section utilizing a crack on a sloping granite slab. Other than that, it was all Class 2+ to the base of the cliffs with brief Class 3 moves periodically.

The next section is to traverse right (west) along the base of the summit cliffs, gaining more elevation and passing through the head of another couloir until you come to the key "notch" on the summit ridge, west of the summit block. Rosebrough calls this "an upward traverse." Some of the most entertaining scrambling occurs along this section. On our descent back across here, there was one place where the downclimb felt steep and exposed enough that we removed packs and used the nylon rope to pass them down, so that the weight and presence of the packs on our backs did not interfere with the downclimb or pitch us out away from the rock. This was likely one of the two following 5th class moves we had to make, described below. There was a "body-width" crack we mentioned in our account where on the ascent, the cliff face will be on your left. About mid way up that crack, there's a chockstone that bulges out, so you have to climb up and over it. This was perhaps one of the 5th class moves in this section, but we did not rope up here because exposure was minimal. Then, just before the notch west of the summit, there was another 5th class move that ends on a gravel-covered ledge.

Once you reach the "notch" west of the summit block, you head out onto the south face of the peak. We immediately climbed up about 10 feet over some large boulders, then traversed south and east on reasonably wide ledges for the most part, with some upward movement, until below the true summit, which can be a little difficult to identify. We came to a well-built cairn just before a bulging boulder crimped the ledge we were following. The question with a cairn in a location like this is, "Does it mean turn and go up here?" or does it mean "You're on route, just keep going." We decided it meant that it was time to head up. At this point, there was a sloping granite slab with a fair amount of small gravel on our left and about 12 feet up that appeared to lead towards the summit. Tim scrambled a short distance up a crack and onto this slab until he felt secure, then offered a short belay to Carrie who followed without any problem. From there, it was just more scrambling over the large granite blocks until we arrived at the summit. The "20 foot chimney" that Rosebrough mentions, we did not find until our descent. This 4th class downclimb is not exposed so we did not use rope or protection for it but does require some chimney technique to descend. For the remainder of the trip back down, we followed the ascent route as closely as possible.

From our campsite at the foot of Jagged's north face, the round trip to the summit took two of us, three hours to complete. The summit is a flat, granite slab, large enough for several people. The view is of course, spectacular. Overall, I think we wished it had been a little more challenging, but it was still most certainly a satisfying ascent and to this day remains our favorite Colorado peak.

Additional BETA

Links to other information, routes & trip reports for this peak that may be helpful.

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